Supreme Court: "If False Evidence Contains No Lies, It Is Not Evidence Forgery"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Supreme Court has ruled that if there is no falsehood in the content or the name on documents submitted as evidence, one cannot be punished for the crime of evidence forgery.

On the 28th, the Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Ahn Cheolsang) overturned the original sentence of 10 months imprisonment for Jeon, who was indicted on charges of evidence forgery, and remanded the case to the Jeonju District Court.

Jeon, a lawyer, received a request in April 2018 from client A to "prepare a plan to receive a reduced sentence." A had bribed a public official through a brokerage request and received money from a company, and Jeon submitted a deposit confirmation to the court showing that all bribes had been returned to favor sentencing.

However, the deposit confirmation was not an actual remittance record. The process of sending money to the company’s account and then receiving it back was repeated, and only the remittance records were submitted.

The first and second trial courts found A guilty and sentenced him to 10 months imprisonment.

However, the Supreme Court judged that Jeon's actions could not be considered 'evidence forgery.' The court stated, "Forgery of evidence means 'forgery of the method of evidence.' If there is no falsehood in the evidence itself, even if it was created to fabricate a false appearance or to prove false facts, it does not constitute evidence forgery."

It added, "The deposit confirmation submitted by Jeon to the court is a document stating that money was remitted to Company B on the specified date, and since there is no falsehood in the content or the name of the document, Jeon's actions cannot be regarded as 'evidence forgery' nor as 'use of forged evidence.'"

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